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Recent Blog Posts
5 Reasons to Consider a Prenuptial Agreement Before You Get Married
Prenuptial agreements are legal contracts that specify spouses’ financial rights and responsibilities. For years, many people mistakenly assumed that prenuptial agreements were only necessary if a couple is extremely wealthy. However, more and more individuals of varying ages, races, and income levels are recognizing the benefits of signing a prenuptial agreement. If you are engaged to be married, here are five strong reasons to consider drafting a prenuptial agreement.
1. To Protect Your Assets
If you have significant assets, such as real estate, investments, retirement assets, or high-value items such as artwork, you may want to consider getting a prenuptial agreement to protect those assets in the event of a divorce. A prenuptial agreement allows you to classify property as non-marital property and prevent the property from being transmuted into marital property during the marriage. Without a prenuptial agreement, your assets could be subject to division by the courts in the event of a divorce.
Navigating Child Custody Disputes Involving LGBT Parents in Illinois
In Illinois and throughout the country, same-sex couples now have the right to marry, and with that comes the right to adopt or raise a child together. However, this also means that should these couples choose to separate or divorce, they can face complex child custody disputes.
If you are an LGBT parent facing a child custody dispute, it is important to understand your rights under the law. In Illinois, parents have equal rights when it comes to making decisions about their children's upbringing—regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This blog post will explain the legal framework surrounding child custody disputes involving LGBT parents in the state of Illinois.
Unmarried Parents May Not Have Parental Rights
Parentage, formerly called “paternity,” refers to the legal child-parent relationship. A woman who gives birth to a child is that child’s legal parent. Her spouse is also the legal parent of the child. If the parents divorce, both parents have a right to parenting time and parental responsibilities.
Taking the First Steps to Leave an Abusive Relationship
Domestic violence touches the lives of people from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and lifestyles. It can take many forms, including physical abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, financial control, and sexual abuse. Many people who are caught up in abusive relationships live lives filled with fear, anger, and confusion. They desperately wish to get out of the relationship, but they worry about the consequences of doing so.
If you are in an abusive relationship, know that you are not alone and that there is help available. It is important to remember that leaving an abusive partner can be dangerous, as abusers may become more violent when they feel threatened. With safety in mind, here are some tips for taking the first steps to leaving an abusive relationship.
Protecting Yourself When Leaving an Abusive Partner
Many people stay in abusive relationships for months, years, or even decades because they fear retaliation or simply do not know how to protect themselves when leaving the relationship. If you are ready to take back your life and leave a violent situation, consider the following:
Uncovering Financial Lies During Divorce in Illinois
A divorce is a stressful process, and it is even more difficult if one spouse is hiding assets or lying about their finances. Divorcing spouses are required to provide an accurate account of their income and assets during a divorce. This information is used to determine child support, divide property and debts, and more. However, some spouses lie about money or hide assets during divorce.
It can be difficult to tell whether your spouse is being truthful during the divorce process, but there are a few signs that could indicate financial dishonesty. Knowing these signs can help you protect your rights and make sure you get the outcome you deserve.
Missing Documents or Bank Statements
If you have begun proceedings for a divorce in Illinois, it is important to keep an eye out for any missing documents or bank statements. If documents go missing or if your spouse stops providing you with financial information, this could be a sign that they are trying to hide something from you. Check with tax records and financial institutions to make sure all documents are accounted for.
5 Tips for Your High-Conflict Divorce
The term "high-conflict divorce" may seem redundant. Afterall, every divorce involves conflict. However, some divorce cases are much more acrimonious than others. When divorcing spouses are unable to move past their anger, frustration and hurt feelings, the divorce process can become a bitter battle. If you are involved in a continuous separation or divorce, you know this firsthand. Here are some tips that may help you navigate a high-conflict divorce and ensure that your rights are protected.
Navigating a Contentious Divorce and Protecting Your Rights
There is no way to completely avoid the stress that comes with a high-conflict divorce. However, there are ways you can manage the conflict and pursue a favorable divorce outcome - even in the midst of extreme dissent.
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Hire the Right Attorney - When you are facing a contentious or difficult divorce, having an experienced lawyer who understands the law and knows how to navigate through the court system is crucial. Make sure you choose an attorney who is familiar with the common strategies used in high-conflict cases and will aggressively represent your interests.
What Does Equitable Distribution Actually Mean?
When a spouse starts exploring the possibility of divorce, he or she is often met with confusing legal jargon and complex divorce laws. It can be hard to interpret dense legal information in preparation for a divorce. One issue that causes an especially high degree of confusion is property division. Divorcing spouses are often unsure of what is theirs and what is their spouse’s property. They are unsure of what they will keep after the split and worry about what they will be forced to give up during the divorce. This blog will provide a general outline of equitable division in an Illinois divorce.
Who Owns What?
Non-marital property is property that belongs to one of the spouses while marital property is jointly owned by both spouses. Property that a spouse purchases or otherwise acquires before getting married is non-marital property. Money and property that a spouse acquires during the marriage is marital property.
Parental Alienation: When Parents Sabotage the Parent-Child Relationship
Sharing a child with an ex can be exceptionally complicated. Parents who used to be married or in a romantic relationship together often have unresolved feelings of resentment toward each other. Some parents can put these feelings to the side for the sake of their co-parenting relationship. Others cannot.
Parental alienation occurs when a parent deliberately damages the child’s relationship with their other parent. It can be extremely harmful to both the child and the parent. Parental alienation can also influence child custody decisions.
What Does Parental Alienation Look Like?
Parents’ main priority should be caring for their children. Unfortunately, some parents are more focused on getting revenge against the other parent than doing what is best for the child. Parental alienation looks different from case to case, but it usually involves psychological manipulation aimed at disintegrating the parent-child relationship. A parent may try to convince a child that the other parent is evil or that the other parent does not care about him or her. If the child mentions something positive about the other parent, the parent quickly dismisses it or even punishes the child for having positive feelings toward the other parent.
When is DNA Testing Used to Establish Paternity in Illinois?
Paternity or parentage is the legal relationship of a father to his child. Establishing paternity is important because it establishes the rights and duties of both the mother and father to their child. Fathers cannot petition the court for parenting time or parental responsibilities until paternity is established. Similarly, mothers cannot ask the court for a child support order until paternity is established.
In Illinois, there are several ways that paternity can be established, including a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, court order, or administrative order. In some cases, DNA testing is needed to confirm paternity.
Genetic Paternity Testing
DNA testing is often used when parties cannot agree on the identity of the child's father or when the father has denied paternity. In Illinois, a court action can be filed to establish paternity, and DNA testing is one way that a judge may require to determine parentage. A sample of the alleged father's DNA is collected as well as a sample from the child.
Marital And Non-Marital Property In An Illinois Divorce
For many couples, dividing assets during divorce is the most complicated and conflict-filled aspect of the divorce process. This is especially true in Illinois, where the division of assets is governed by a mix of common law and statutory rules. If you are planning to divorce, you may have questions like, "Who keeps the house?" or "What happens to our bank accounts?" You may also have questions about complex assets like investments and retirement accounts or liabilities like student loan debt and credit card debt. This blog will cover some of the fundamental aspects of property division in Illinois divorce cases and what you can do if you need help classifying and dividing property during your divorce.
What is Mine and What is Ours?
Under Illinois law, almost all of the assets purchased or otherwise acquired by either spouse during the marriage are considered marital assets. Marital assets include any income earned by either spouse during the marriage as well as any assets that were acquired with that income. Examples of marital assets include houses, cars, furniture, cash, jewelry, collectibles, cryptocurrency, and anything else acquired during the marriage.
Does a Parent Have to Pay Child Support If They Are Unemployed?
Massive layoffs at companies like Twitter and Meta have been making headlines across the country recently. Being laid off from your job can cause a lot of stress and uncertainty, especially if you have children. Simultaneously, in what has been called "The Great Resignation," people are leaving jobs at an unusually high rate. If you or your child's other parent is unemployed, you may wonder how this will influence your child support order. The answer to this question depends on several different factors.
Child Support Calculations in Illinois
In Illinois, child support payments are determined through a calculation process called the Income Shares method. The two parents' net incomes are added together and then this combined income is used to determine the total amount of financial support the child or children will require. This support obligation is divided between the parents based on their percentage of the combined income. For example, a parent whose income accounts for 30 percent of the combined income would be responsible for paying for 30 percent of the support obligation. The parent with the majority of the parenting time provides his or her share of support by providing for the child's needs. The other parent, the "obligor," provides his or her share through child support payments.
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